and he changes very little, if at all. However our perception of him as readers changes during the course of the story by means of what we see of him through others eyes and their words to him. He goes from being a character of suspicion to a trusted ranger to a noble king...in our perception, without significantly changing as a person during that time. Tolkien is masterful at giving us glimpses and clues about Aragorn. Examples are 1) at Rivendell standing with Elrond and Arwen 2) when he is waiting to leave Rivendell with the Felllowship and he is sitting with his head between his knees and it is noted that "only Elrond fully understood what this hour meant to him" 3) on Cerin Amroth deep in thought 4) Galadriels words to him at their parting from Lorien. There are of course many more examples but I am not interested in writing an essay on this. We find out so much about him from these moments and he is not changing, and I personally find this less predictable, more enjoyable and better story telling than the "personal growth story formula". So Aragorn is noble at the beginning of the story and retains that nobility without compromise throughout the story to it's conclusion, it is just that this situation is revealed to us in generally subtle degrees. The most powerful exhibition of his nobility of character in my opinion is his declaration to Eomer when they meet, you can imagine my dissapointment at what resulted in the movie.

Faramirs change in the movie weakened the One Rings potency, he knew what it was, after his men cruelly tortured Gollum, craved it and rejected it thereby reducing it's potency. In the book he was uninformed on the matter for the main duration of Frodo and Sams capture, never sighted it, was not in a real position to be tempted by it and therefore was never really trialled as he was in the movie. If he had been trialled and subsequently tempted then he would have fallen as others had, therfore the One Ring in the book remains more potent. Sir PJ created a situation in the movie to put temptation in Faramirs way by means of an obvious and dire need (Ranger #4.....shorty, Osgiliath is under attack, there is a troop of Girl Guides there that won't leave until our forces there buy all of their cookies, they need reinforcements (or something to that effect)).

FYI the trilogy are some of my very favourite movies, and probably my favourite series of movies, and certainly the one I find the most emotionally powerful. Well short of the books, but still very good.